{"id":12101,"date":"2020-03-02T16:47:07","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T16:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/?p=12101"},"modified":"2025-05-05T21:23:04","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T21:23:04","slug":"reflect-review-the-new-automated-web-testing-tool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/test-automation\/reflect-review-the-new-automated-web-testing-tool\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflect: The New Automated Web Testing Tool"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12117\" src=\"http:\/\/abstracta.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jud-mackrill-Of_m3hMsoAA-unsplash-min.jpg\" alt=\"picture of a work team\" width=\"5760\" height=\"3840\" \/><\/h1>\n<p><!-- Go to www.addthis.com\/dashboard to customize your tools --><script src=\"\/\/s7.addthis.com\/js\/300\/addthis_widget.js#pubid=ra-58d80a50fc4f926d\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Reviewing the newest code-less test automation tool on the block<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019ve read our blog before, you may have noticed that we love to try out new <a href=\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/tools\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">testing tools<\/a> here at Abstracta and share our opinions of them! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Recently, one of the tools we\u2019ve been learning more about is a newcomer to the test automation space, <a href=\"https:\/\/reflect.run\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Reflect<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to its website, it\u2019s a cost-effective, zero-code, zero-installation tool for recording and executing UX tests that are also easier to run and maintain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We wanted to see if the tool lived up to the hype, so we scheduled a demo with the Reflect team to see it in action, playing around with JsPaint, and meanwhile, we were able to ask them any questions we had along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this post, we\u2019ll share our overall comments about the tool and some of the strengths we see in it as well as what we hope they include in their product roadmap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Reflects_Strengths\"><\/span>Reflect&#8217;s Strengths<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Hover_Tracking_Drag_and_Drop_etc\"><\/span>Hover Tracking, Drag and Drop,&nbsp;etc.<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The Reflect team told us that existing record-and-playback tools either don&#8217;t support hovers at all, or you&#8217;re given an option to enable mouse over\/hover tracking at which point you get a ton of unnecessary steps in your test because it&#8217;s recording every hover event.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, they made it so that <strong>Reflect supports hover tracking that records<\/strong><strong> only the hover events that are meaningful in the test.<\/strong> It has a <strong>click-and-drag\/drag-and-drop\/mobile swipe<\/strong> support that exactly replicates what the user does. Similarly, you can exactly replicate <strong>clicks\/hovers\/taps\/swipes\/drags <\/strong>which would otherwise fail in other tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/abstracta.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/unnamed-min.gif\" alt=\"reflect test automation tool gif\" class=\"wp-image-12103\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Browser_Has_a_Pristine_State_at_the_Start_of_Every_Test\"><\/span>The Browser Has a Pristine State at the Start of Every Test<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Rather than in a Chrome extension, recording is done inside Reflect\u2019s web app. Their team explained to us that the extension approach opens up a lot of&nbsp;susceptibility&nbsp;to false positives:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p><em>\u201cIf you&#8217;re logged in or otherwise have cookies set, if you&#8217;re behind a proxy, if you started recording mid-way through the test &#8211; these and other factors can all lead to a bad recording that fails on its first run. With Reflect, you record via our cloud-based browser. This differentiator itself lets us remove a lot of the factors that lead to bad recordings. For instance, <\/em><strong><em>we can guarantee that the browser has a pristine state at the start of every test<\/em><\/strong><em>.\u201d&nbsp; <\/em>&#8211; Reflect team<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>This also allows you to use different profiles when testing. For example, to record a mobile test, you select the mobile profile and it\u2019ll open up a mobile-emulated browser session for you inside the web app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/abstracta.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/unnamed-1-min.gif\" alt=\"reflect tool browser state gif\" class=\"wp-image-12104\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Network_and_Console_Logs_in_Real_Time\"><\/span>Network and Console Logs in Real Time<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When a real failure happens, here is where this feature comes to action. You can see console logs and network time in real time while the tests are executing, so if something fails, you have direct access to all the information you would need in order to see why it failed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/abstracta.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/unnamed-2-min.gif\" alt=\"reflect tool gif\" class=\"wp-image-12106\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%98Accept_Changes_Feature\"><\/span>&#8216;Accept Changes&#8217; Feature<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>One thing that can also happen is that tests fail due to changes that have been planned. For those cases, instead of updating the test manually, you can use the \u201cAccept Changes\u201d feature. It allows you to take that failure as the new expected behavior for that test and the next time you run it, it will look after that change also.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Full_Video_Recording_of_the_Test\"><\/span>Full Video Recording of the Test<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Once the test finishes running, you can see a full video recording. This is a very common feature in other tools, but it adds a lot of value when it comes to debugging and checking if the test&nbsp;ran as expected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/abstracta.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/unnamed-3-min.gif\" alt=\"reflect gif 4\" class=\"wp-image-12107\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Easy-to-Read_Test_Plan\"><\/span>Easy-to-Read Test Plan&nbsp;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>While you\u2019re recording the test, a very easy-to-read test plan is created automatically on the left side of the page. It uses the page title to group the steps you\u2019re performing which makes finding them really easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/abstracta.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/unnamed-4-min.gif\" alt=\"reflect gif 5\" class=\"wp-image-12109\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Easy_and_Accurate_Visual_Validations\"><\/span>Easy and Accurate Visual Validations<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>While recording your test, you can add visual validations. They\u2019re quite simple to make and work really great.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Version_Control\"><\/span>Version Control<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>With version control, you don\u2019t lose track of previous changes. You can record a test again and still be able to see the previous states and roll back if necessary.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/abstracta.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/unnamed-2-min-1.gif\" alt=\"reflect version control\" class=\"wp-image-12118\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Available_for_Mobile_and_Tablet_Resolutions\"><\/span>Available for Mobile and Tablet Resolutions<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>You can choose between desktop, mobile and tablet resolutions when you create your test which makes this feature perfect for testing responsive pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/abstracta.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/unnamed-1-min-1.gif\" alt=\"reflect resolutions gif\" class=\"wp-image-12112\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Parallelization\"><\/span>Parallelization<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>One point that we consider really important is that you\u2019re allowed to run as many tests at the same time as your page supports. Since all the tests start running in a pristine environment on a cloud-based browser, you can have as many instances as you want running at the same time. This makes the execution time for an entire suite really short. All you have to do is create a test group with all those tests and run the whole group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_Wed_Like_to_See_Next_from_Reflect\"><\/span>What We&#8217;d Like to See Next from Reflect<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While all of the above features and qualities of the tool make it very useful, in the future, we hope to see these features added to the tool:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Multiple keys<\/li><li>Cross browser support<\/li><li>Multiple tabs<\/li><li>iFrame support <em>&#8211; the Reflect team tells me they are coming out with this soon <\/em>\ud83d\ude42<\/li><li>Integration with notification tools<\/li><li>Parameterization<\/li><li>Use of spreadsheets<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Verdict\"><\/span>The Verdict<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Although this tool is still in its infancy, it has much to offer.<\/strong> My colleagues and I believe that&nbsp;the Reflect team will make several improvements and add more features over time. The features it <em>does have<\/em> today work extremely well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another thing we value about it is that <strong>Reflect is very open to feedback and suggestions.<\/strong> In the demo, they mentioned some cases in which their users needed specific features and how they worked with them in order to&nbsp;fulfill those needs. Being able to communicate easily and openly with a tool\u2019s developers is really important for getting the most out of it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There were more aspects that I thought were necessary in an automation tool because&nbsp;I&#8217;d seen them in others, but while talking with Reflect,&nbsp;I realized that, since their approach is 100% recorder based and they want to be on the highest possible level for the user, they don\u2019t need to include, for example, the option to use javascript code since it&#8217;s not something that actual users would do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>[tweet_box design=&#8221;default&#8221; float=&#8221;none&#8221;]Reflect is a great tool for manual testers without coding skills to be able to automate manual regression checks or verifications.[\/tweet_box]<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Recommended_for_You\"><\/span>Recommended for You<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/tools\/12-top-test-automation-tools\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">12 Top Test Automation Tools to Try in Your Next Project<\/a><br><a href=\"http:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/test-automation\/true-roi-test-automation\/\">The True ROI of Test Automation<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reviewing the newest code-less test automation tool on the block If you\u2019ve read our blog before, you may have noticed that we love to try out new testing tools here at Abstracta and share our opinions of them! Recently, one of the tools we\u2019ve been&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,61],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v14.0.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Reflect Review: The New Automated Web Testing Tool | Abstracta<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After receiving a demo from its creators, read our review of the new, code-less test automation tool, Reflect, for easier regression testing.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"googlebot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"bingbot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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